


thoughts of stars

by rosepear



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Andrew loves the stars and Neil, Astronomy, Divination, Fluff, Harry Potter AU, Introspection, Kissing, M/M, not necessarily in that order
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 16:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16043870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosepear/pseuds/rosepear
Summary: He had good eyes, Bee liked to say. He often wondered whether she meant for the night sky, for people or just his eyesight in general. He could find any constellation within seconds, as long as it was visible from his current location, but that may have been more thanks to his infallible, cursed memory rather than his eyes.Like right there, in the north-east – the Cygnus constellation, the majestic swan soaring over the Forbidden Forest. And over there, a bit to the south, very faint and very far away, was Vulpecula. The little fox.





	thoughts of stars

Andrew flicked his cigarette and a bit of the glowing cherry at the end broke off, stark against the dark grounds below. He didn't watch it fall; his gaze inevitably strayed to the stars, as it often tended to these days, and stayed.  
  
It was a quiet, calm night in May. The stars blinked down at him, bright and welcoming, and the wind danced over the swaying trees. Andrew stood by the railing of the Astronomy Tower, glancing down at the still grounds every now and then. The Whomping Willow stood unmoving to the right; to the left, the Forbidden Forest loomed in the distance. Sometimes he thought he could see movement here and there between the trees, though he didn’t look down long enough to guess what it could be. Behind him, Neil was laying on the cold stone floor, using his robes as a pillow and reading a muggle magazine he stole from one of his Gryffindor friends. It was late enough that they knew they would remain undisturbed – a welcome, quiet reprieve after a day full of classes.  
  
Well, as quiet as it could be with Neil around.  
  
“'May is a month of embracing change; trust your intuition, but be careful with your money. The planets will guide you through any financial problems that may arise,'“ Neil read from the magazine. Andrew watched goosebumps appear on the bare skin of his arms when a particularly strong gust of wind made its way inside. He forcefully dragged his eyes away.  
  
Neil tended to be hung up on the strangest of things; last week, it was palm reading. This week: horoscopes. Andrew guessed it was an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of taking Trelawney’s useless class for over three years and being dramatic enough to actually enjoy it. He didn’t know what Neil liked more: the most obscure stuff like muggle astrology or antagonising Trelawney at every turn.  
  
“Profound advice,“ Andrew remarked, picking at his cigarette. He finished it and let the rest vanish with a flick of his hand.  
  
“Very profound.“ Neil nodded solemnly.  
  
Andrew took out his pack and shook another cigarette out. This time, he lit it with his wand; he still couldn't do wandless fire spells very well (a fact that irritated him quite a bit). He took a slow, deep drag. When his lungs started to burn, he breathed out and welcomed the ache. It distracted him from the swoop of his stomach he experienced every single time he stood at the top of the highest tower at Hogwarts.  
  
“What about this one?” Neil asked, tapping on the page. “'The stars all agree: it's your time to shine. Don't be afraid to open your heart. Great romance lies ahead.' What do you say, Andrew? Do you feel like romance?”  
  
Andrew dragged his eyes to Neil's cheeky grin, illuminated by the soft glow from his wand, and then the stupid magazine spread open in front of him. He wondered if with enough strength of will he could set it on fire without taking out his wand. Instead, he rolled his eyes and took another drag.  
  
“Horoscopes are stupid,” was all he said. He watched the smoke disappear in the sky, and his eyes strayed to the stars again.  
  
“I don't know,” Neil said. “They sure seem to make a lot more sense than Trelawney.”  
  
Andrew blew the smoke from his next drag in Neil’s general direction. “I wouldn't know.”  
  
“We did bone reading stuff yesterday, and she threw some bird bones and tried to convince us she saw the Grim, like she doesn’t do that at least once a week. I asked whether or not one could read the future from bird shit.” Neil grinned. “And she said yes.”  
  
“Charming,” Andrew said, hiding a yawn behind his hand.  
  
“I wonder if she would let me borrow one of those fancy glass orbs we sometimes use,” Neil mused. ”I could say it's for, I don't know, additional practice or something. If you want, I could try to glimpse something for you. What do you think?”  
  
“Interesting,” Andrew allowed, “but unnecessary. I have no desire to know the future.”  
  
“Right. You do read from the sky, though,” Neil observed, his eyes playful over his magazine.  
  
“I watch the sky,” Andrew corrected. He had no interest in Divination whatsoever, and Neil knew that; he just liked to be difficult. “There is a significant difference.”  
  
Neil only smiled and turned to another page.  
  
Andrew put the rest of the cigarette out against the stone wall and let it fall onto the grounds. Down, down, down it went into the darkness, and Andrew pretended his stomach didn't swoop as he watched it disappear. His hands were steady; it was his heart that was pounding against his ribs as if trying to follow suit and jump out of his chest and into the night. He thought of heights and thought of falling and made himself look up instead, and breathed.  
  
His gaze flicked to the north-west where the Gemini constellation was about to disappear below the horizon. He had good eyes, Bee liked to say. He often wondered whether she meant for the night sky, for people or just his eyesight in general. Unlike Aaron, who loved to pour over his Healing books until the early hours of the morning, he didn't have to wear glasses to read. He was observant, and he had been conditioned early on to notice the tiniest signs of violence; a habit too hard to break after the rough times of his childhood. He could find any constellation within seconds, as long as it was visible from his current location, but that may have been more thanks to his infallible, cursed memory rather than his eyes.  
  
Like right there, in the north-east – the Cygnus constellation, the majestic swan soaring over the Forbidden Forest. And over there, a bit to the south, very faint and very far away, was Vulpecula. The little fox.  
  
Lately, he had been thinking more of another kind of falling.  
  
He pushed back from the railing and sat down next to where Neil was sprawled on the cold stone floor. He threw a quick warming charm around them, because Neil may not have cared, but Andrew sure as hell was not going to freeze his ass off if he could help it. He watched Neil hum softly while reading the magazine; he watched how his auburn hair curled around his ears, still slightly wet from the shower he took after his Quidditch practice that afternoon. He watched how easily Neil smiled at him, and he wanted, wanted, wanted.  
  
See, Andrew was neither oblivious nor stupid. He made it his job to watch people, to look out for any signs of ill will. He was, however, unused to gentleness, and found himself feeling agitated when faced with softness; a sweet smile thrown over a lean shoulder, icy blue eyes bright with happiness. He wasn't delusional, but perhaps he was not as smart as he thought he was.  
  
He looked down to Neil's robes on the floor, and his eyes caught on the Hogwarts crest proudly displayed there. _Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus_ , the familiar words said. _Never tickle a sleeping dragon, indeed_ , he thought, and then decided he didn't care.  
  
“Neil,” Andrew began, then stopped. His hands weren't shaking; they hardly ever did these days. He looked up, gaze steady, and asked, “Yes or no?”  
  
The stars were reflected in Neil's eyes when he tilted his head to the side and watched Andrew watch him. Andrew thought that if he looked hard enough, he could find entire constellations down to a single star in those eyes. There was Leo, fierce and brave, and he could see Cepheus lurking in the corners, its house-like shape blinking at him merrily. Cassiopeia was a faint figure in the background, and Draco flew over them all – a wild, free beast. Then there was Sirius: the brightest star. It lit up Neil's eyes and made Andrew's heart clench painfully.  
  
An eternity later, “Yes.”  
  
Another eternity: their lips met, and Andrew thought, _Supernova_. Thought, _Is this how it feels to collapse and then explode and shine, shine, shine?_ Neil's soft lips parted and his sigh made Andrew feel warmer than all the warming charms in the world ever could. They moved closer, and he deepened the kiss, anchoring himself with a hand in Neil's auburn curls. When they stopped to breathe, Neil laughed softly and ducked down to kiss along Andrew's jaw. Andrew's heart picked up and beat harder than before. Maybe it was finally going to make that jump and sink right into Neil's gentle hands – hands that he could feel cupping his neck. The touch made him shiver, and he hid that by tilting Neil's head back up and kissing him with all the heat of a summer day.  
  
When they finally parted, the sky remained unmoved and the stars blinked down at them lazily. Andrew felt strangely unmoored; a one-person boat in the middle of a raging storm.  
  
“Oh,” Neil mumbled, his voice quietly awed in the silence of the night. “Andrew Minyard, I think you _do_ feel like romance.”  
  
Andrew scoffed. “Shut up,” he said and pushed Neil's face away without any real force behind it. His hand felt warm where it lingered on Neil's cheek.  
  
Neil only laughed and stretched to pick up the discarded magazine. He cast another _Lumos_ and then proceeded to lay back down on the floor and shove his head into Andrew's lap. Faced with Andrew's blank stare, he simply shrugged, a sweet smile on his face, and went back to reading the magazine.  
  
When Andrew's hands sank into Neil’s hair, he only hummed, as happy and content as one could be while laying on a hard stone floor.  
  
“What about cards, then?” Neil carried on with their abandoned conversation. “Would you let me read your cards?”  
  
Andrew hummed, playing with soft auburn hair. “We’ll see. Is that going to be your new obsession?”  
  
Neil grinned up at him, and his eyes were lit up with mirth. “I think my new obsession’s going to be your mouth. If you don’t mind, of course.”  
  
Andrew did not, in fact, mind.  
  
That was the thing with stars, he thought idly, combing through Neil’s hair. Sometimes you could see them, and sometimes you could not, but you knew they were always there; a steady, anchoring presence. They watched and shone and didn’t judge. There weren’t many things in the world Andrew took comfort in, but he thought he could take some in that fact. And as far away as the stars seemed to be, when he met Neil’s eyes again and leaned down to steal another kiss, it felt like they were actually right there, within his reach.

**Author's Note:**

> Andrew is 100% a space gay.
> 
> Thank you for reading ❤️
> 
> (hmu on [tumblr](http://www.rosepear.tumblr.com))


End file.
